Easy Dutch Oven Bread Recipe (2024)

If ever there was an easy way to bake artisan bread, this is it. I used to bake crusty round loaves of bread using a baking stone. But I decided to try a new method. The Dutch Oven method. Turns out, my bright red enameled cast iron dutch oven can do more than sit pretty on my stove! It’s a super easy way to bake oven fresh bread.

This bread recipe = so easy. Just 3 ingredients. Well, 4 if you count the water. The finished product is a thick-crusted on the outside, soft on the inside bread. It’s a great bread to serve with Italian pasta. Or just do what we do and butter a slice to eat all by itself!

I like to mix the ingredients up the night before so the bread dough can rise in the refrigerator while we sleep. Then, I can wake up in the morning and it’s all ready to bake.

Dutch Oven Bread Recipe

Ingredients:

• 3 cups unbleached white flour
• 1 tsp active dry yeast
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1.5 cups warm water

Directions:

1. Mix flour, yeast and salt in a medium sized bowl with a tight fitting lid. (If you don’t have a lid, cover bowl with plastic wrap). Add the warm water and stir until the dough is mixed well. The dough will be very sticky, but that is okay. Cover the bowl and set in the refrigerator for 12-18 hours.
2. When you are ready to bake, take the bowl out of the refrigerator and preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place your Dutch oven and its lid into the oven while it preheats and allow it to heat for 30 minutes. In the meantime, take the dough from the bowl and gently shape it into a round loaf on a heavily floured surface. Then let the dough rest until the oven is ready.
3. Carefully remove the Dutch oven from the oven and gently place the dough inside. Cover with the lid, return to the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Open the oven, remove the lid and return the pot to the oven for another 10-15 minutes or until the loaf is richly browned. Once it’s done, put the loaf on a Good Cook cooling rack and allow it to cool for at least 30 minutes before cutting.

Click for a printable copy of this easy Dutch Oven Bread Recipe.

I am part of the Good Cook blogger program, and am so excited to share the news that another Good Cook blogger has recently released her very own cookbook! If you love bread, you should take a look at Make Ahead Bread: 100 Recipes for Make-it-When-You-Want-It Yeast Breads by Donna Currie.

Free Bread Loaf Pan Offer!

If you pre-order a copy of Donna’s book on Amazon by February 28, 2-14. Good Cook will send you a free bread loaf pan when you fill out this form. That’s one free loaf pan per cookbook!

You can also receive 25% off your GoodCook.com purchase with promo code: BAKEBREAD